Twilight Of The Stars
by nytecat
Summary: An alternate universe fantasy story featuring the Mai HiME and Mai Otome cast. It begins with a princess on a diplomatic mission to stop the kingdom of Xepon waging war on her country's ally, Dorados.


_**Title: Twilight Of The Stars**_

_Author's note: Like a bolt out of the blue, the idea of this story struck me several days ago. The name of this fanfic is inspired from Gotterdammerung (the twilight of the gods) or Armageddon in Norse mythology. _

_EDIT – 23 SEPT 2007 – spotted some grammatical mistakes and corrected them. Sorry._

_- 25 SEPT 2007 – Eagle-eyed Hoppy-chan spotted a grammar gremlin. It has now been exterminated._

**Chapter 1 – Akikaze**

Winter fell softly on the sleeping hamlet of Akikaze. Like all small outlying villages in the kingdom of Miroku, it had a lone dirt road carving through its middle. Traditional southern houses, their beautiful mosaic masonry havens for the fluttering shadows, were dark dunes along either side of the street. Thick thatched dome roofs sat heavily on the low boxy structures.

A white mist rose up from the surrounding padi fields. It skulked over the village walls, a quiet spectre which quickly engulfed Akikaze. Chill crept up the darkened glass windows, leaving in its wake fat fingers of frost on the cold panes. The frigidness shattered the night air into thousands of merciless shards, making each shivering breath a painful misery.

Amber halos from the watchgate's gloworbs battled the gloaming gloom. Mirroring the radiance at the watchgate were the golden lights from the train station and its spiral sentry-tower. The train station was a small oblong stone building squatting at the south edge of town.

On any other night, howling trains would hurtle through Akikaze. The village was one of the last trading posts along the Sentinel Wall border between Miroku and the kingdom of Xepon.

Except on this moonless evening, it was quiet. The trains were late.

The warden lumbered out of the station house, the seal medallion of his office glistened a bright copper around his neck. Kazuki paused a moment to pull on the crimson skullcap and green cloak to complete his uniform's ensemble. The long cloak flapped noisily as he thumped quickly to the four women who waited silently at his station.

His heavy booted footsteps alerted the would-be passengers to his approach and all turned to greet him. They were the oddest band of travellers he had ever seen in all his years of service. Two of the group were little more than girls; one was a pale frail child with long pale lavender hair, the other was older with short black hair and a warrior braid down each side of her face. He had daughters who were older than them. They sat on wood platform a little further away from the other two.

Both girls were garbed in the colourful clothes that city merchants wore. Bundled up in wolf-skin cloaks as they were against the cold, he could see little else. Due to their ages, Kazuki assumed that they were apprentices. 'But, the older one has warrior braids?' he mused to himself. Merchant guard's apprentice then, he rationalized.

The black-haired apprentice with rare pale gold eyes merely glanced at him before she turned away and began to chat animatedly with the other girl. The attentive way that the lavender-haired girl heeded her companion's words absurdly reminded Kazuki of a servant attending to her mistress.

Another passenger, a young woman who surely had danced her last Spring Dawn a few years ago, studied him sharply. Her distrustful auburn-eyed gaze disconcerted him as much as her twin slim warrior braids which were tucked behind her ears, and the katana that hung from a scabbard at her waist. Unlike the two girls, her clothes were dolorous black. Her vest had loose sleeves that covered over her hands, possibly to conceal weapons, and her tight-fitting pants were pushed into flat heeled, steel toe-capped boots. There was something about her katana which caught Kazuki's eye then he realized what it was. Leather. Her scabbard had the look of fine leather.

The young woman had immediately folded her arms across her chest as he came nearer, standing so that she was between the warden and the two girls. From her attitude and visible weapon, the warden reckoned she was the merchants' hired guard.

Kazuki addressed the oldest - as was custom - an elderly woman dressed in wealthy Mirokui style. Though she wore Mirokui merchant clothes, they could not disguise the fact that she was a foreigner. What gave her away were her fair green eyes and cream complexion. Her close-cropped hair was grey, making it hard to tell its former youthful colour though Kazuki would wager it had been one of those odd flaxen, brown or fire hues which were common in Xeponi or Dorados. If that was not enough, the merchant was also the tallest woman the warden had ever seen.

After a moment's thought, the warden decided to speak in Babelic, the most widely spoken language on the continent of Thanaos.

"Ma'am, I received a Sending from the train. It has been delayed due to snowfall on the tracks. A firemonger on board has dealt with the problem. The train should be here shortly."

As if to make him out to be a liar, the Heavens cast the first snow flakes of winter down upon the station. Softly as feathers they fell. First a few then more until the platform stood before a steady flurry of white.

"Very well," the woman replied in flawless Mirokui. She ignored the warden's evident surprise and turned to the guard. She said something in a harsh tongue which Kazuki was unfamiliar with. The young woman merely nodded and went to the girls. She moved with a mountain cat's grace, her sheathed katana swaying gently at her left hip. She squatted down, made a gesture of contrition for interrupting the black-haired girl's conversation.

The older apprentice nodded once and got up to stand a little further down from the others. The merchant guard looked after the black-haired girl as if worried but then turned to talk to the frail girl softly.

Despite himself, the scene intrigued Kazuki. Curiosity plagued him. He had to find out who that black-haired girl was! -That strange golden-eyed girl. It was said that in all the kingdom of Miroku only the seventh Princess had eyes like that.

He ambled over. As soon as he passed the merchant guard and frail girl, the skin on his nape prickled. Suddenly, there was a sense in the air of blades bared. Kazuki stopped and turned. The merchant guard had a dark warning in her eyes and the lavender-haired apprentice - her cold green glare made his knees quake. He could see his death in her bottomless eyes.

Still...he had to know. With a resolution he never thought that he possessed, the warden spun around and approached the other apprentice. The girl seemed lost in thought, not taking delight in the snow flakes as other children would. At his footstep, she glanced at him before turning back to her brooding study of the darkness.

"The snow is nice, isn't it?" he asked in Mirokui after an awkward silence, at a loss to what to say.

At first, Kazuki thought she would continue to ignore him. Then she sighed softly. "It made the train late," she replied. Her voice was gruff and calm, an odd contrast to her sweet face and her polished accent. Her brow furrowed. "I must not be late," she said to herself, her tone desperate. Her gold eyes hardened. "I shall not be late."

Something about her, a morbid air, made Kazuki unthinkingly reach out and touch her shoulder. The girl turned, surprise bright in her eyes. She stared at his hand that swallowed her shoulder. Then she raised her head, seemed to stare past him. Her eyes widened and she shook her head slightly. Startled, the warden looked over his shoulder.

The merchant guard and frail girl were standing now and looking with deep apprehension at him. He felt the air become heavy and oppressive all of sudden as if a noose was tightening around his neck. The girl's shoulder moved under his hand as she made some sort of gesture. The sense of danger lessened. He turned back to the girl who was staring at him with curiosity and strangely, a hint of hope.

"Then you shall not be late," Kazuki said soothing as if to one of his frightened daughters. "Do not worry. Just do your best and all shall be right."

Instead of comforting the girl, the light of hope in her eyes dimmed. "What if my best was not enough?" she retorted quietly. Suddenly, she glanced again at his hand and hurriedly removed it as if it burned.

Before the warden could ask what was fretting her, the train wailed into the station. Smoke puffed angrily from its chimney as its wheels squealed to a stop. The apprentice turned her head to look at the locomotive as it shuddered to a halt nearby. Without a word, she moved quietly away. Kazuki watched her join the merchant guard, foreigner and frail girl.

Moments later, the conductor came out of the train. He blew his whistle once to signal the train driver that there were passengers at the station. The merchant guard and foreigner picked up their luggage - three small suitcases; showed their passes to the conductor who came out before they boarded the train.

That left the two apprentices alone with him and the conductor on the platform. The frail girl kept staring at him or into him. Her eerie jade eyes impaled Kazuki with fear. It was as if she saw all his darkest secrets.

The black-haired apprentice showed her pass to the conductor and stepped onto the train. She paused on the last step, turning to look at the frail girl who still had not stopped staring at the warden.

"Mashiro, come."

Without hesitation, Mashiro turned from him and followed the girl onto the train. She too stopped at the last step and cast him one final sorrowful glance before entering the train carriage.

Mashiro, Kazuki thought, a Mirokui or Xepon name. Maybe she was Xeponi. He had heard that Xeponi had odd coloured hair and pale skins. Then something odd struck him about the way the girl spoke to Mashiro. It was not the way a human spoke to another. More akin to a master speaking to a dog.

The train conductor gave one look around the platform. He raised his hand in question at Kazuki. Kazuki shook his head in reply: no, there were no more passengers. With a nod, the conductor blew his whistle twice and re-boarded the train.

It hissed as it moved away; its pyro-engine rumbling like distant thunder as it picked up speed again. Billows of smoke shot out of its chimney, leaving a sharp sulphuric smell in the air.

* * *

The dining carriage was nearly empty at this early hour. Orange gloworbs in scones high along the red painted interior and on the ceiling illuminated the carriage. Booths lined either side of the space, leaving an aisle in the centre. A group of women sat at a booth near the front end of the compartment.

Whispered words were underscored by the rattle of steel as the train surged forward towards its destination: Xepon.

"You let him touch you," the old woman said grimly in Mirokui. Underneath the disapproval was volcanic anger, bidding its time to erupt. Though that was not unusual, the woman always spoke in a dissatisfied tone. Clear emerald eyes stabbed at the black-haired girl seated opposite her. "In Dorados, he would have had his hands handed back to him..." The woman paused, taking the precaution to lower her voice even though the compartment was empty save them. "...Princess Mikoto Minagi."

The princess met the older woman's gaze levelly. Unconsciously, her hands went up to finger her shorn hair. Accustomed to feeling a smooth bun, now her fingers brushed the rough, spiky edges. She fought the childish urge to tell the Doradosa that if she had spoke that way to her in the Palace, it was custom to give the woman her tongue back. After it had been branded while still in her mouth, of course.

Instead, the princess merely replied: "It would have been unwise to call attention to ourselves. After all, we are supposed to be a band of merchants."

The Doradosa harrumphed, her lips curled derisively. "And what sort of merchant are you to wear warrior braids?"

Mikoto's hands crept up again before she managed to stop herself. It had taken her nine years of intense, painful training to earn her warrior braids, she could not bear to cut them – even for the sake of a disguise! She blushed wordlessly in response and turned to stare out of the large window next to her. A forest of trees lined either side of the tracks, dark shadows in the brightening light. By mid morning, they should be winding around the Kaminari Alps. The Sentinel Wall lay beyond the mountains.

Nina, seated next to the princess, would not let the Doradosa's insolence pass. "Be careful of your tone, Chancellor Graceburt. The princess is risking much to help your country as an emissary to the Kingdom of Xepon, whom we have no cause to quarrel with. Remember that."

Maria Graceburt stared in surprise at the Royal Bodyguard for a moment. She looked at Mikoto petulantly as if asking why the princess would stand such an outrage.

"Why were you staring at the train station warden, Mashiro?" Mikoto asked instead in a bid to change the subject before the Chancellor demanded that she chastised Nina. She now wished that she had taken her bodyguards' advice to rest in their sleeping compartment.

Seated next to Maria, the lavender-haired girl broke off her stare into the distance. Mashiro and Nina had arranged to be seated on the outer bench so that they could watch the entrance portals at both ends of the carriage.

Mashiro seemed to pull herself out of a deep reverie. Sorrow clung like a dark cloak to her. Despite her youthful features, she possessed a calm, sagacious air about her. When she spoke, she used the soft child-like voice she always used.

It made what she said all the more chilling.

"That old one is going to die."

The Chancellor made a small derogatory sound. Mikoto ignored her, after all, she was ignorant of who Mashiro truly was.

"How do you know, Mashiro?" Nina asked, leaning forward intently on her elbows.

The girl's eyes became unfocused and she seemed to be listening to the wind outside. Suddenly, she turned her attention back to them. "The winter spirits told me," she replied.

Maria laughed, a low nasty sound. "That's outrageous!" she barked after a moment.

The princess exchanged a solemn look with Nina.

"When will he die, Mashiro?" Nina probed earnestly.

Mashiro merely shook her head. "The winter spirits did not say. They only warned that he would die soon." She looked at the Chancellor when she said that then turned her attention back to guarding the princess.

The party lapsed into silence. Nina studied Mashiro with a perturbed frown. After several moments, the young woman stood up.

"I am going to do a round of the carriages," she informed the princess and the Chancellor. "Check for any suspicious persons or activities. Get some rest, Princess. Madam Chancellor." She smiled then reassuringly when Mikoto looked at her with growing alarm. "Do not worry, Princess. This is merely a routine security precaution." With that, the bodyguard left quietly, her katana slapping softly against her thigh as she walked.

Outside, the wind picked up as if in laughter, rattling the panes of glass. The sound unnerved Mikoto, reminding her of bone dice tumbling in a cup.

* * *

Dawn found the train station of Akikaze quiet. The door to the station house stood slightly ajar. Suddenly, a hard thump sounded. Then booted footsteps. Moments later, the door opened fully. A woman dressed in a tan hooded cloak walked out of the building. She carefully surveyed the deserted platform for any people or sounds.

After a minute, she drew back her hood. Her youthful vulpine features were blissful as she sighed and shook out her long dark vermilion hair. Wan sunlight glinted off the wet, red-stained tips of the sharp claws of the neko-te on each of her fingertips. The young woman made as if to brush her fingers through her hair but stopped as if just noticing the blood dripping from her cat claws. Mild disgust crossed her face as she shook her claws dry.

Her movements caused her cloak to fall open, revealing a black tekko-kagi hanging from her belt. She was dressed as a hunter in forest green and earth brown dappled vest and pants. The trousers were loose, tucked into the ankle-high dun leather boots.

Once the claws were dry, she popped the steel rivet buttons on a small hard leather belt pouch at her hip. Within seconds, she dug out a small hexagon ruby. A gold squiggly sigil gleamed in the sunray on its shiny surface.

Her breaths made small white puffs in the crisp air as she talked into the Sending gem.

"I found out where they are. Pick me up."


End file.
